AMD’s latest roadmap reveals more details of its upcoming next-generation RS780 chipset. AMD plans to target the chipset towards consumer and commercial desktop platforms, with minor differences for each respective segment. AMD designed the RS780 to accommodate its upcoming Socket AM2+ processors with HyperTransport 3.0.

The RS780 sports a new graphics core with AMD’s Universal Video Decoder, or UVD, technology for hardware acceleration of H.264 and VC-1 video formats. The new chipset supports DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI digital video output interfaces. AMD also integrates an audio controller for simultaneous audio and video output over HDMI. The chipset also integrates HDCP support.

Additionally, the chipset supports TV-out, VGA and LVDS outputs. The graphics core also has two independent display controllers for dual independent displays. The local frame buffer feature will make a return on the RS780, allowing manufacturers to equip the graphics core with dedicated video memory. Users that prefer more 3D graphics power can install an external graphics card via a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. The RS780 will also have additional PCIe 2.0 lanes for lesser slots.

New to the RS780 platform is the SB700 south bridge. The SB700 does away with all PCIe lanes and only supports PCI, because all PCIe functionality has moved to the north bridge. AMD increases USB support to 12 USB 2.0 ports plus an additional 2 USB 1.1 ports. The new south bridge supports up to six SATA 3.0 Gbps ports with RAID 0, 1 and 10 support. IDE remains a supported feature of the SB700. However, AMD designates the IDE port for double duty – a physical PATA port or for HyperFlash. HyperFlash is AMD’s name for its Intel Turbo Memory competitor.

RS780 for commercial platform has one minor difference compared to the consumer platform. AMD designates a Broadcom BCM5761 managed NIC controller for the commercial platforms. The managed NIC allows for remote management, similar to Intel’s AMT technology. AMD also recommends a TPM 1.2 module for greater security.

Expect AMD to unveil the RS780 sometime next year.

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